It’s been hard to miss the spectacle: The Donald’s [Donald Trump’s] two sons and a whole passel of dead African animals. A short video of trophy still shots includes one Son of a Trump holding a knife and an elephant’s tail.

The hunt was arranged through Hunting Legends (motto: “Legends are forged in the crucible of Africa’s wild places. The legend within answers to the call of your hunter’s spirit. Don’t just be … be the legend“). Apparently the company is feeling the sting of criticism from legitimate conservationists, given this defensive post. (Sorry, but “The Trumps hunt Africa” page is password protected.)

Trophy hunters routinely attempt to cloak their ego trips in a facade of altruism, claiming that the dollars spent help native communities—and that natives are the beneficiaries of the meat. Said Donald, Jr.: “I can assure you it was not wasteful—the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don’t often get to eat.” He tweeted that the hunts control animal populations and the money spent contributes to conservation. But from the UK Telegraph comes this:

Johnny Rodriquez, of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said the Matetsi reserve, near Victoria Falls, where the men hunted was sparsely populated so the meat was unlikely to benefit anyone. “Because of the state of the country, there is also very little transparency about where the money these hunters spend goes,” he added. “If they want to help Zimbabwe, there are many better ways to do so.”

Matthew Scully, in his excellent book Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, offers up a scathing chapter on Safari Club International (SCI) and its mission of altruism, suggesting that trophy hunters need “to feel themselves a part of some grand and glorious purpose beyond mere butchery,” a need he attributes to Theodore Roosevelt:

It’s a very American thing. British and German hunters had been in Africa long before T.R. got there, filling their own safari journals with breathless romantic drivel but sparing us, at least, any pretense of altruism. To Roosevelt we owe the notion of the safari as a form of public service and the rich American trophy hunter as a sort of missionary, there to uplift the natives and instruct them in the ways of game management. –M. Scully

"Service Animal" Scammers (New Yorker): An increasing number of your neighbors have been keeping company with their pets in human-only establishments simply by claiming that the creatures are their licensed companion animals and are necessary to their mental well-being.